Rick Perry had his oops moment. Newt Gingrich had his Florida Falter. And Rick Santorum went to Arizona to debate with everything on the line — and left as the self-described Great Compromiser, which, if you haven’t noticed, is not a compliment these days in the GOP. He said he took one for the team – and Mitt Romney, who hasn’t met a position he couldn’t change, was disingenuously asking which team. With the game on the line, Romney comes through again.

Will the debate hurt Santorum? We’ll find out Tuesday, when Michigan – one of Romney’s many home states – and Arizona vote. The polls in Arizona are pretty close to even. But the Romney people think that the home-town attack machine will prove out in the end. Of course, if Romney loses, anything could happen.

To the big board (last week’s rankings):

1. Mitt Romney. Accuses Obama of historic attack on religion. Or was Romney making a historic attack on truth?

2. Rick Santorum. Can’t forget the motor city.

3. Ron Paul. Seems to be tag-teaming with Romney. I didn’t think the Ron Paul Revolution made deals.

4. Newt Gingrich. It’s time to start working on that concession speech.

Bonus pick: Brokered convention. All brokered convention fans will be rooting for Santorum to upset Romney Tuesday. By Wednesday, Sarah Palin will be somewhere on Fox saying it’s not too late for someone (wink) to get in the race.

Or, if economy does, in fact, continue to improve, what exactly is Mitt Romney’s campaign about?

When Romney trashed Newt in Florida, it gave us political junkies the chance to watch Gingrich in full lunar-colony mode, making his concession speech (in which he didn’t mention Mitt) his vision of what he’d do on his first day in the White House. Unfortunately for Newt, that first day will probably come when Obama or Romney issues him an invite. I don’t think he should hold his breath in either case, although watching Newt hold his breath may become part of the remaining campaign.

Romney is expected to cruise in both the NV and CO caucuses. He has money. He has the organization. And he’s not Newt.

To the big board (last week’s ranking):

1. Mitt Romney. Yeah, he’s going to win. But did you see him sucking up to the Donald? Is it worth it? (1)

2. Newt Gingrich. There’s no debate until Feb. 22. (2)

3. Ron Paul. I went to a big Ron Paul rally in Denver. It was the first time I’d ever heard 1,000 people chanting, “End the Fed.” (3)

4. Rick Santorum. I saw the photo of him with Dave “Doc” Schultheis. It wasn’t a dream. Neither was the Tancredo endorsement (I’d rather have Trump). (4)

Bonus pick: Roseanne Barr is apparently running to be the Green Party nominee for president. I don’t really know what I could add to that.

I’m in New Hampshire for the primary, which everyone expects Mitt Romney to win. What matters, though, is who finishes second, unless it’s Ron Paul, who is running in his own primary. If Paul finishes second, what matters is who finishes third. I think. Maybe. Or not.

This is the primary where the expectation game is most important. Romney can’t just win. He has to win big. Of course, the runners-up will say he didn’t win big enough. What is big enough? Let’s say 15 points? 10 points? If it’s single figures, and it’s Santorum, it really will be game on.

And to the boards (last week’s ranking):

1. Mitt Romney. Or maybe it should be Obama, who got his big boost with employment numbers. (1)

2. Rick Santorum. The first two hours of his stump speech are great. Just don’t Google him. (4)

3. Ron Paul. When he landed in New Hampshire Friday, the Paulites acted as if an earlier Paul (McCartney, circa 1964) had hit town. (3)

Newt Gingrich’s race to the top was nearly trumped by The Donald’s race to the bottom. Trump is the week’s big loser, which is quite the trick, given that he’s not even running (we hope). It was stunning to see the Republican candidates, most of them so so eager to kiss the Donald’s ring, turn around and kick some Trump butt by turning down his debate offer. Rick Santorum and Gingrich were the only ones to accept Trump’s invite. Santorum can’t turn anyone down these days, but agreeing to be party to the Trump-athon may just show how out of touch the Newtster really is.

Now to the board (last week’s rankings).

1. Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. Subject to tomorrow’s debate, after which we’ll break the tie. (1 and 2)

3. Ron Paul. Led the pack in turning down The Donald. Has to get props for that. (3)

4. Rick Perry. He has made his big play with disturbing gays-and-God TV ad. If guns are next, I hope we get to watch him shoot a coyote. (6)

5. Jon Huntsman. With a little luck, he could finish fourth in NH. Congratulations. (7)

6. Michele Bachmann. Book tour not working out so well. 3,000 copies in two weeks. (5)

7. Rick Santorum. The good news: Now has a 50-50 shot at Donald endorsement. (4)

8. Gary Johnson. Yes, Gary Johnson.

Bonus pick: A fond farewell to the Hermanator, who last week finished 9-9-9. Now he’ll never have to talk about Libya again. It was Libya, right?

UPDATE: Newt Gingrich was the debate winner, meaning Mitt Romney, for the first time, was the debate loser. (Think I’m wrong? I’ll bet you $10,000 I’m not.) Best line of debate comes from Michele Bachmann: Newt Romney. In biggest shock, Rick Perry had decent debate. Of course, no one asked him how many justices were on the Supreme Court.

Among my other sins, I'm a serial columnist. Over too many years to mention, I've written news columns, sports columns, features columns and op-ed columns. My first job was covering the Virginia Squires and Dr. J in the old American Basketball Association. I moved from the Virginian-Pilot to the Los Angeles Times, then to the Baltimore Sun, then to the late Rocky Mountain News and on to The Post.

A blog about whatever thoughts bounce through Mike Littwin's head — from politics to basketball (speaking of bouncing) to politics to books to politics to movies to politics to Sarah Palin (whenever I need the extra clicks).